leah remini

Fans of the CBS daytime show 'The Talk' were shocked after the network decided not to renew the contracts of original co-hosts Holly Robinson Peete and Leah Remini for Season 2. Now Peete is finally coming clean about what happened behind-the-scenes.

Rumors of her and Remini's departure started to circulate in late August, but nothing was officially confirmed until September. And it turns out that Peete was just as confused as the fans. The actress claims that she was kept in the dark for months, while rumors of other actresses taking her place started to fly. In fact, Peete reveals that she was never given a proper explanation as to why she was fired.

After weeks of rumors surrounding the fact that the actress' contract for the show -- along with co-star Holly Robinson Peete's -- had not been renewed, Remini confirmed the news Thursday on her Twitter account. "It is official: I am sorry to say that I have NOT been asked back on the show. Sorry to my fans. U worked so hard! I adore u guys," she tweeted. "No reason was given," she replied later.

As for Peete, the actress confirmed on Twitter that she has still not officially heard whether she is staying on the show or not. Peete responded to Remini's news Thursday night, saying "Devastated by the news that @LeahRemini was not asked back to @TheTalk_CBS. She brought humor, heart and authenticity."

So, what does 'The Talk' co-host Sharon Osbourne have to say about all shake-up drama?

"I'm saddened to think that it could be [true], but it's not confirmed," Osbourne told AOL TV. "I don't know. I'm just a little fish in the big, big pond. I'm not the producer. I don't make the decisions."

People are certainly talking about 'The Talk,' but it's not necessarily a good thing.

A few weeks back, rumors swirled that Sharon Osbourne would be leaving 'The Talk.' While Osbourne herself told us she was just taking a little break to spend time with her husband Ozzy, it looks like the same can't be said for two of her co-hosts.

According to Deadline and sources close to production, the talk show will be undergoing several changes next year. Contract options were renewed for series creator and co-host Sara Gilbert and her fellow 'Talk'-ers Julie Chen (who's married to CBS boss man Les Moonves) and Sharon Osbourne.

The options for Remini and Peete were not picked up, though there's no word yet on whether they'll remain with the show in a more limited capacity.

Bananas Foster is tasty, and its ingredients are surprisingly easy to throw. That's what Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini, and chef Duff Goldman (from 'Ace of Cakes') found out on 'The Talk' (weekdays, syndicated on CBS) during a segment that was supposed to be about cooking. Or at least assembling deserts. But it quickly became more about disassembling deserts when Goldman started sprinkling some of the ingredients on Remini's head.

Remini wasn't having it. "You know what?" she said, turning to Peete, who was holding a frosting sleeve. "Don't play with me." Remini squeezed the sleeve to shoot whipped cream at Goldman. Then the whipped cream and bananas started flying everywhere as the trio declared war, and an honest to goodness food fight broke out.

Remini thought the cast was great, and they apparently enjoyed her, too. "Usually when you're stars like that at a top ten show, immediately number one, you know, you figure, they're all going to be jerks," said Remini. "They were the nicest cast. Like, every guest star that came on the show, they were like, come sit with us. They were the sweetest, most generous cast."

With a male birth control pill reportedly well on its way to market, the women of 'The Talk' (weekdays, syndicated on CBS) discussed whether they'd trust men to use it properly, and what the future would look like with more male options for birth control. What they foresaw was not pretty.

On the question of whether she would trust her man to take a daily birth control pill, Leah Remini gave a resounding "Hells no," adding, "I can just see our husbands with the little packet going, 'Uh, okay, missed, missed, missed, uh ... Dude, do we take 29 at the same time?'" Sharon Osbourne also thought less condom use could bring disgusting results. "Everybody would be covered, covered in herpes," she said.

The conversation then turned to celibacy, more specifically, women who have decided not to have sex. "The person really annoys me who says, I won't have sex, but I will do this, this, and this," said Remini. Holly Robinson Peete thought there were good reasons to have sex before marrying a partner. "How do you know if the guy is going to be delivering the goods if you don't take a test drive?" she said. Ladies just might want to check the guy's packet first.

Enough people liked Clay Aiken's singing in 2003 to make him the runner up on 'American Idol.' If his son Parker had been born then, it sounds like he would have voted for Ruben Studdard. Aiken said Monday on 'The Talk' (weekdays, Syndicated on CBS) that Parker, who turns three in August, doesn't like it when his dad sings around the house. And it kind of hurts his feelings.

"If I sing in the house he gets upset and tells me to be quiet," said Aiken. "Or if I sing along with the TV, 'Don't sing.'" The odd part is, when they get into the car, Parker loves to hear his dad's CD. "Which is so much more miserable for me," said Aiken. "I would rather sing than have to hear myself. I don't want to listen to myself. But he's very insistent, so I listen to myself a lot more in the car than I care to."

Remini and Holly Robinson Peete made cameos on the soap opera playing themselves, hosting 'The Talk,' where Bregman and Bergman's characters were hawking their cosmetic line, Jabot (which is an actual, real world product now). Remini did some funny, probbaly inappropriate ad-libbing, mostly marveling over Bergman's looks, calling him "a handsome bastard" and asking him if he wanted to make out. When Peete read that Jabot would "tighten, lift, and firm," Remini said, "Hell yeah. Can you put that on your ass?"

Remini asked Bregman and Bergman to rate her and Robinson Peete's acting skills, and Bergman said he thought they both did "very good." And this is a man who knows fine acting.

Anyone wondering what Cedric the Entertainer's new game show 'It's Worth What?' will actually look like got a preview Tuesday on 'The Talk' (weekdays, syndicated on CBS). Cedric gave the ladies a preview, challenging them to guess the prices of several items that could either be junk or expensive antiques.

Cedric had with him two items -- a black velvet and white taffeta gown once worn by Princess Diana for a charity event in 1985, and an acoustic guitar signed by Elvis Presley. The hosts were charged with figuring out which item was worth more. Leah Remini was the tie-breaker, and went with the guitar.

The signed guitar was worth $30,000, a lot of money to be sure. But the dress was worth twice as much. Sharon Osbourne, who had voted for the dress, was not happy. Hopefully the contestants on Tuesday's 'Worth What?' premiere will be less contentious.

What a week it was. We emerged from our barbeque and beer induced long-weekend slumber on Tuesday just in time for the most shocking court verdict since the O.J. Simpson trial. The ladies of 'The Talk' gave Nancy Grace a run for her money, reacting live to the verdict with tears, confusion and bewilderment.

But other fun things happened too. Betty White played the drums. Bristol Palin and Barbara Walters treated us to one of the most uncomfortable sex discussions ever. Regis Philbin and Larry David had their long-awaited sit-down, and it was as awkward as we hoped. Kathie Lee and Hoda tackled the modern scourge of people talking on their cell phones while sitting on the toilet.

Onto the videos! Check out our Top 5 clips of the week and vote for your favorite in our weekly poll.

And now to test the limits of our euphemistic abilities, a clip of Kathy Griffin and the women of 'The Talk' (weekdays, syndicated on CBS) talking about "My New Pink Button." This is, in Julie Chen's words, "a cosmetic dye that temporarily restores color to your genital area." At least, that's where the discussion started, and it drifted into more questionable territory from there.

Griffin imagined the impressive application of such a product. "You're taking your clothes off and he's like, what, it just keeps getting better, and you're like, 'Check this out,'" she said. Leah Remini said Pink Button could be useful to some women, but wouldn't maybe not her, specifically. "Some stuff can look like it was in a small house fire," she said. As the audience began to woo and laugh, she quickly added, "I'm not saying mine."

Getting even more personal, as is her wont, Griffin revealed her nickname for her happy lady part. "I call her 'Little Kathy,'" she said, "and she's always in a good mood and she goes, 'Hi, come on in!'"

Future audience members of 'The Talk' (weekdays, syndicated on CBS), take note. If Julie Chen decides to show off her hose-clad legs, do not whistle, or you may be subjected to Leah Remini's granny panties dance. That was the scene Wednesday with guest Ray Romano, when Remini responded to an audience member's enthusiastic holler by de-hosing Chen.

Remini explained that the man in the audience was probably picturing thigh-high stockings, not the more full-figured version, and he certainly hadn't had to witness Chen's shimmy to pull them up. Remini then said Chen's husband Les Moonves probably didn't want to deal with them either, and tore them from her legs. Romano had to follow that, and Remini asked him, "Do men like hose?"

Jeff Lewis, the star of Bravo's reality series 'Flipping Out,' is an outspoken human drama machine. So it wasn't exactly surprising Tuesday on 'The Talk' (weekdays, syndicated) when he told celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton that he had become too nice and needed to get back to ripping and doodling on celebs.

Lewis is not a fan of the kinder, gentler Perez, who changed his site's tone after being publicly pressured by Ellen Degeneres. "You're much more complimentary now, you're less mean-spirited, and you're a little ... you're less snarky," said Lewis. "I like the old you."

Lewis asked Hilton if he could "do another blog for people like me? Because there's a lot of us." Hilton responded that he enjoyed being more positive, and Lewis said that was fine, but some celebrities "act like jerks" and deserve Hilton's snarky comeuppance.

It was a day of mixed emotions Tuesday on 'The Talk' (weekdays, syndicated on CBS), as the panel reacted live to the verdict from the Casey Anthony trial. The room was filled with nervous anticipation in the moments before the verdict, as Julie Chen made the executive decision to stay with the show instead of breaking to coverage, joking that she would discuss any fallout from the decision with her husband, CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves, at the dinner table.

But the breezy tone quickly changed as she reported the shocking verdict -- the studio audience gasped and then grew quiet as the "not guilty" verdicts came in on the separate murder, manslaughter and child abuse charges. Leah Remini, bewildered, threw her hands up in the air and almost walked off the set. Chen herself appeared close to breaking down at one point, leaving Holly Robinson Peete to finish reading the remaining counts.